Roger Vangheluwe

Last updated

Roger Vangheluwe
Former bishop of Bruges
Monseigneur Roger Vangheluwe Brugge.jpg
Vangheluwe in 2007
Church Roman Catholic
SeeBruges
Installed3 February 1985
Term ended23 April 2010
PredecessorEmiel-Jozef De Smedt
Successor Jozef De Kesel
Orders
Ordination1 February 1963
Consecration3 February 1985
by  Godfried Danneels
Laicized 20 March 2024
Personal details
Born (1936-11-07) 7 November 1936 (age 87)
Roeselare
NationalityBelgian

Roger Joseph Vangheluwe (born 7 November 1936) is a former prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Bruges from 1985 to 2010 when he resigned after admitting that while he was a priest and a bishop he had sexual relations over 15 years with his nephew, who was a minor. He later described similar behavior with a second nephew, also a minor, over the course of a year. Pope Francis laicized him in March 2024.

Contents

Belgium's statute of limitations prevented him from being prosecuted for these acts.

Early life and career

Roger Vangheluwe was born on 7 November 1936 at Roeselare, the youngest of four children in a family of modest means. He attended the less prestigious local Catholic school, not the Minor Seminary as middle class peers did. [1] He earned a licentiate in theology and biblical languages and a diploma in mathematics at KU Leuven. He was ordained a priest on 1 February 1963 and then fulfilled assignments in education and parish ministry. [2] From 1968 to 1984 he was professor at the Major Seminary in Bruges. [3] He was also vicar for the central district of the diocese beginning in 1969 and was secretary of that vicariate from 1977 to 1984. [2] He was appointed Bishop of Bruges on 15 December 1984 by Pope John Paul II. [4] He was received his episcopal consecration in Bruges on 3 February 1985 [2] from Cardinal Godfried Danneels.[ citation needed ] He represented the Belgian Bishops' Conference at KU Leuven and chaired its committee on the diaconate. [2] He had a reputation as a popular and friendly bishop, "not a church servant in an ivory tower, but a true friend of the people". He advocated for a greater role for women in the Church, but was traditional on questions of divorce and homosexuality. His 25th anniversary in Bruges was marked with a large celebration in February 2010. [3]

When asked during a university lecture on 19 April 2010 how pedophilia should best be discussed in class, Vangheluwe replied: "I think you need to be well informed about these things. In a way, it's not a tougher subject than many others. Yes, it's embarrassing, it's scandalous. But then again, so are many other things.... Also, there have been some articles that imply that pedophilia is nowhere so little prevalent as in the Church." [5]

Two days later, on 21 April 2010, the catholic periodical 'Kerk en Leven' ('Church and Life') published the following quote taken from his answer: "At present we suffer from the scandals that batter the Church: everywhere there are stories of priests abusing children. It's horrible to see these things surface, and they hurt us deeply. Nevertheless, this shouldn't blind us from the fact that the majority of priests lead exemplary lives and represent a support to many.... They aspire to imitate Jesus." [6]

Resignation

On 23 April 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Vangheluwe's resignation after his admission that he had repeatedly sexually abused his nephew for 13 years, starting when the boy was just 5 years old. The abuse began when Vangheluwe was a priest and continued after he became a bishop. His is the first episcopal resignation in Belgium relating to the sexual abuse of minors. [7] [8] At the time Vangheluwe was Belgium's longest serving bishop, a year shy of the standard retirement age of 75. [9]

Vangheluwe's resignation was announced at a press conference by Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard. Leonard said that Vangheluwe's resignation shows that the Catholic Church in Belgium wants to "turn over a leaf from a not very distant past". [10]

Retirement

On 26 April 2010, it was reported that Vangheluwe had retired to Westvleteren Abbey [5] [11] with a state pension of about US$3,600 a month. [12] In September 2010, Vangheluwe announced he was leaving the abbey and that "as of today, I will contemplate my life and future somewhere hidden, outside the bishopric of Bruges". [9] He was reported to be living in an abbey in the Loire Valley. [3]

On 4 April 2011, the Reuters news service reported that Belgian authorities were not considering prosecuting Vangheluwe because his crimes occurred too long ago. [13]

On 12 April 2011, the Holy See Press Office announced that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had ruled that Vangheluwe must leave Belgium and undergo spiritual and psychological treatment. Its statement said that "he is not allowed any public exercise of priestly or episcopal ministry. The psychological treatment is provided by the Congregation to obtain additional information useful for diagnosis and prognosis, to come to a final decision, which remains the responsibility of the congregation itself, and to be approved by the Holy Father. This decision will of course take into account the different aspects of the issue, beginning with the suffering of the victims and the needs of justice. The process is still ongoing and therefore the decision taken so far by the Congregation is provisional and not final." [14]

On 14 April 2011, Vangheluwe gave an interview to Flemish TV-station VT4. In the interview, he admitted to abusing another nephew. He also stated that he did not see himself as a pedophile. The interview caused indignation in Belgium. [15] On 24 April 2011, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard strongly condemned the interview, noting that the Vatican had insisted that Vangheluwe remain silent. He called the interview "shocking". [16]

Laicization

In a decision made known to Vangheluwe on 20 March 2024, Pope Francis laicized Vangheluwe, as Belgium's bishops had long advocated, on the recommendation of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which had conducted a re-examination of his case, which included hearing testimony from Vangheluwe, following new charges brought against him. The announcement made by the Apostolic Nunciature to Belgium said that the former bishop "asked to be able to reside in a place of retreat, without any contact with the outside world". [17] [18]

Vangheluwe features as a main character in Bruges (Edinburgh Festival 2014), a play in The Europeans Trilogy (Bruges, Antwerp, Tervuren) by UK playwright Nick Awde.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church sexual abuse cases</span>

There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, nuns, and other members of religious life in the Catholic Church. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, acknowledgement and apologies by Church authorities, and revelations about decades of instances of abuse and attempts by Church officials to cover them up. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Egan</span> American Catholic cardinal (1932–2015)

Edward Michael Egan was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut from 1988 to 2000 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in New York City from 2000 to 2009. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001.

In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the loss of clerical state is the removal of a bishop, priest, or deacon from the status of being a member of the clergy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godfried Danneels</span> Belgian Roman Catholic Church cardinal

Godfried Maria Jules Danneels was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and the chairman of the episcopal conference of his native country from 1979 to 2010. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983. His resignation that he had submitted in 2008 at the age of 75 was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 January 2010.

The canon law of the Roman Catholic Church requires that clerics "observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven". For this reason, priests in Roman Catholic dioceses make vows of celibacy at their ordination, thereby agreeing to remain unmarried and abstinent throughout their lives. The 1961 document entitled Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders stated that homosexual men should not be ordained. In 2005, the Church clarified that men with "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" cannot be ordained. The Vatican followed up in 2008 with a directive to implement psychological screening for candidates for the priesthood. Conditions listed for exclusion from the priesthood include "uncertain sexual identity" and "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norberto Rivera Carrera</span> Mexican cardinal

Norberto Rivera Carrera is a Mexican prelate of the Catholic Church who was archbishop of Mexico City from 1995 to 2017. He was made a cardinal in 1998. He was Bishop of Tehuacán from 1985 to 1995.

Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders is a document published in November 2005 by the Congregation for Catholic Education, one of the top-level offices of the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church in Belgium</span> Belgium church

The Catholic Church in Belgium, part of the global Catholic Church in Belgium, is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome and the Episcopal Conference of Bishops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Bruges</span> Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Belgium

The Diocese of Bruges is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, which covers all of Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Łowicz</span> Roman Catholic diocese in Poland

The Diocese of Łowicz is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Łowicz in the ecclesiastical province of Łódż in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Bonny</span>

Johan Jozef Bonny is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the bishop of Antwerp in Belgium since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Stika</span> American Catholic prelate (born 1957)

Richard Frank Stika is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville in Tennessee from 2009.

The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Europe has affected several dioceses in European nations. Italy is an exceptional case as the 1929 Lateran Treaty gave the Vatican legal autonomy from Italy, giving the clergy recourse to Vatican rather than Italian law.

The Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete is a Latin Church, Catholic religious congregation of men dedicated to ministry to priests and Brothers with personal difficulties. The congregation was founded in 1947 by Father Gerald Fitzgerald in Jemez Springs, New Mexico; they are named for the Paraclete - a representation of the Holy Spirit interpreted as an advocate or helper. After a series of lawsuits related to sexually abusive priests that had been treated at its facilities, the order has consolidated their holistic programs to Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri, an unincorporated area outside St. Louis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André-Joseph Léonard</span> Belgian Catholic archbishop (born 1940)

André-Joseph Léonard is a Belgian Catholic retired prelate who served as the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and Primate of Belgium from 2010 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jozef De Kesel</span> Belgian Roman Catholic bishop

Jozef De Kesel is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels from 2015 to 2023, where he had been auxiliary bishop from 2002 to 2010. He served as Bishop of Bruges from 2010 to 2015 and has been a cardinal since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricardo Ezzati</span> Archbishop and cardinal

Ricardo Ezzati Andrello is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has lived and worked in Chile since the age of 17. He was Archbishop of Santiago from December 2010 to March 2019 and has been a cardinal since February 2014. He previously served as Archbishop of Concepción. He headed the Episcopal Conference of Chile from 2010 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucas Van Looy</span>

Lucas Van Looy S.D.B. is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Ghent from 2004 to 2019. He worked as a missionary in South Korea for more than a decade and held leadership positions with the Salesians from 1984 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels</span> Latin Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Belgium

The Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is the primatial see of Belgium and the centre of the ecclesiastical province governed by the Archbishop of Mechelen–Brussels, which covers the whole of Belgium. It was formed in 1559 and the bishop has a seat in two cathedrals, St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen and the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels. The current archbishop is Luc Terlinden, who was installed in September 2023.

Events in the year 2010 in Belgium.

References

  1. ↑ Rogeau, Olivier; Royen, Marie-Cécile (3 May 2010). "Eglise belge : les dessous du scandale". Le Vif (in French). Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Biografie. Roger Vangheluwe". De Standaard (in Dutch). 23 April 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Huyghebaert, Pieterjan (2 October 2023). "Roger Vangheluwe: van populaire bisschop in Brugge naar paria in 'het verborgene'" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  4. ↑ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXXVII. 1985. p. 87. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  5. 1 2 Lesaffer, Pieter (26 April 2010). "Vangheluwe spreekt over pedofilie tijdens laatste publieke optreden" [Vangheluwe speaks about pedophilia during the last public appearance]. De Standaard (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 27 April 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Bisschop Vangheluwe geeft seksueel misbruik toe". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 23 April 2010. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010.
  7. ↑ "Danneels in gesprek met dader en slachtoffer" [Danneels in conversation with perpetrator and victim]. Katholieknederland.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 27 April 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  8. ↑ "Belgium's Catholic bishop of Bruges quits over abuse". BBC News. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Abuse scandal ex-bishop 'in hiding'". Irish Independent. 11 September 2010. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024.
  10. ↑ Povoledo, Elisabetta (23 April 2010). "Bishop, 73, in Belgium Steps Down Over Abuse". New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  11. ↑ Erlanger, Steven (30 August 2010). "Belgian Church Leader Urged Victim to Be Silent". New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  12. ↑ Erlanger, Steven (19 September 2010). "Belgian Catholics Remain Anguished by Sexual Abuse". New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  13. ↑ "Belgium: Bishop Cannot Be Charged". New York Times. Reuters. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  14. ↑ "Dichiarazione DEL Direttore della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, RevDo P. Federico Lombardi, S.I., a Proposito della Situazione dell'Ex Vescovo di Bruges, Mons. Roger Vangheluwe" (Press release) (in Italian and French). Holy See Press Office. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  15. ↑ "Belgium hears ex-bishop Vangheluwe play down abuse". BBC News. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  16. ↑ "Léonard blijft zwijgen over Vangheluwe" [Léonard remains silent about Vangheluwe]. De Standaard (in Dutch). 24 April 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  17. ↑ Van Lier, Manu (21 March 2024). "Roger Vangheluwe renvoyé à l'état laïc par le pape François". CathoBel (in French). Retrieved 22 March 2024. La décision du pape a été notifiée à Roger Vangheluwe ce 20 mars.
  18. ↑ Cernuzio, Salvatore (21 March 2024). "Belgio, dimesso dallo stato clericale il vescovo Vangheluwe per abusi". Vatican News (in Italian).
Religious titles
Preceded by Bishop of Bruges
3 February 1985 - 22 April 2010		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.